Non-stick skillets that won't leach chemicals

It's hard to find a skillet that's non-stick and doesn't have a Teflon coating. I'd like to avoid Teflon because it's a known carcinogen. And the fumes are so unhealthy, that using non-stick pans in your home is fatal to pet birds! (Although, the burning food itself can also be the culprit.)

Materials to avoid

• Teflon (a brand name for polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE) and other non-stick coatings. This includes Cuisinart QuanTanium, DuPont Autograph 2, Swiss Diamond, T-Fal, Eterna, Excalibur, Xylan.
• Stainless steel with a high nickel content
• There is a simple test to determine if your stainless – or the stainless you wish to purchase – is okay or not. If a magnet sticks to your pot/pan – you are safe. If it does not, there is too much nickel.
• Aluminum (pots and pans, foil, cans, etc.)
• Hard-anodized aluminum(?)
• Conflicting evidence on whether it leaches aluminum into the food or not
• The Brandy Wine Science Center Inc. performed tests for leaching on various types of cookware including hard-anodized aluminum. The study tested for metals like iron, nickel, copper and aluminum. The final results showed that hard-anodized aluminum does leach 7.10 milligrams per liter of liquid used in the test.
• "PFOA-free" doesn't mean much
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) can be used in the manufacturing process. PFOA is a pollutant and toxin, but does not remain in the final product
• When they say PFOA free, it means that particular chemical wasn’t used in the manufacture of PTFE. But the coating still contains PTFE.

Things to look for

• Stainless steel
• Check that a magnet sticks
• Ceramic-based coating
• E.g. Greblon, Thermolon and EcoLon coatings
• Used by brands Ozeri pans, Cook Kitchen, Joseph Strauss, Zwilling J.A. Henckells Thermolon coating cookware, NeoFlam
• Cast iron
• Enamel
• Glass, e.g. Pyrex
• Hard-anodized aluminum with no additional non-stick coating
• If we're looking for non-stick, this is the best of the lot
• Cook at the lowest heat possible to reduce leaching into food.

Cast iron pans are definitely safe and after they have been properly seasoned, they won't stick, either.

How to make food not stick to a stainless steel pan

Pre-heat the pan, and then add the oil/fat. Wait for a tell-tale wisp of smoke from the pan before adding your ingredients for cooking.

I can't actually find any hard-anodized aluminum pans with no additional non-stick coating on them. Are there any brands you know of? Share in the comments!

My "to do" list

Here's a list of the things on my "to do" list, in order to detoxify my home and my body.

• Avoid Mercury
• Don't eat fish high on food chain and prefer light tuna over albacore or "white" tuna.
• Avoid PFOA and PTFE
• Found in Teflon cookware, many nonstick and water-resistant materials, frozen pizza packaging, French fry containers, packaged-for-heating foods
• Don't eat fast food
• Buy stainless steel, cast iron or enamel pots and pans.
• Avoid BPA
• Found in plastic containers, canned food like coconut milk, soup, meat, vegetables, juice, fish, fruit and beans
• Pre-soak and freeze beans instead of buying in cans
• Eat out less
• French press coffee instead of using coffee makers with plastic tanks and tubing
• Avoid vinyl and polyurethane flooring
• Reduce exposure to THMs
• Leave drinking water standing, uncovered, for several hours
• Take shorter and cooler showers or, even better: take a bath
• Filter out many things from drinking water with carbon or charcoal filter combined with a reverse osmosis system. Check NSF website's database for comparison of products.
• Use green cleaning products
• Look for ingredient disclosure and not the words "green", "biodegradable" or "non-toxic" on the front (these don't mean anything!), e.g. Seventh Generation and Ecover are good
• Use homemade cleaning products made of vinegar, baking soda, etc.
• Look up cleaning products in the EWG database or on GoodGuide.com
• Avoid insect sprays and flea and tick solutions
• Instead: boric acid, vinegar+water, or diatomaceous earth
• Check EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database for safe sunscreen, personal care products and cosmetics, and make my own cosmetics as often as I can
• Avoid toxins in baby's stuff
• Buy only plastic products sold after 2009
• Look for low or no VOC in paint
• Make sure there is no formaldehyde in particle board or avpod particle wood altogether
• Limit electronic equipment in room, especially older models
• Use natural body care products such as Vitamin E, safflower oil or olive oil instead of lotion.
• Produce in the "dirty dozen" has to be bought organic
• Download or purchase the following apps:
• EWG Shopper's Guide for "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean 15".
• Chemical Cuisine for health risks of food additives
• Keep house germ-free
• Wash out veggie drawer in fridge once a month
• Buy plastic chopping board, not wood. Also, if it gets worn and grooved, replace.

 Bonus

• When pregnant, sign up for National Children's Study
• Check that our home, school or workplace isn't near an uncontrolled hazardous waste site, or Superfund site

Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about the fact that I live in smog-filled LA. Or the vinyl flooring in our rental. I promise myself that we'll move when I graduate from school. This tree-lined pocket of apartments between the freeway and electric power lines is just such a good deal in otherwise unaffordable West LA..! (I'm bad, I know.)

What else would you put on your "to do" list? Share in the comments!